Walking Dead Walmart
Chapter 50 – The Last Shift
Mason's POV
---
The loading dock echoed with growls.
Hundreds...
No...
Thousands of zombies flooded through the broken warehouse doors.
Hunter Units crawled across the walls and ceiling.
They surrounded us.
There was nowhere left to run.
I slowly counted my ammunition.
Five shotgun shells.
One pistol magazine.
My combat knife.
I smiled.
"...Guess that'll have to do."
---
Behind me...
The rescued Walmart associates huddled together.
Some were crying.
Some prayed.
One former Team Lead stepped beside me.
"What do we do now?"
I looked toward the far end of the warehouse.
A massive blast door.
Beyond it...
Freedom.
If only someone could keep the horde busy long enough.
Then I looked around.
Fuel trucks.
Explosive barrels.
Gas pipes running across the ceiling.
Old delivery trailers.
A plan formed in my mind.
Not a good one...
But the only one.
---
My radio crackled.
«Breddy:
"Mason!"
"We've reached the loading dock!"
"Where are you?!"»
I smiled.
"Right where I need to be."
A Hunter Unit leaped from the top of a truck.
BOOM!
My shotgun blasted it out of the air.
Another charged.
I kicked it into a stack of pallets.
The pallets crashed down, crushing it.
---
Breddy and Raven finally burst through the warehouse doors.
They immediately opened fire.
BANG!
BOOM!
BANG!
Ethan and Tyler followed close behind.
For a brief moment...
The team was together again.
Breddy ran over.
"Mason!"
"You okay?"
I laughed.
"I've had worse overtime."
Raven shook her head.
"You never stop joking."
"If I stop..."
"...then I'm probably dead."
---
The reunion didn't last.
Titan's roar echoed through the warehouse.
The giant smashed through a concrete wall.
Hunter Units poured in behind it.
The warehouse became a battlefield.
Colonel Graves shouted,
"Everyone to the extraction tunnel!"
The rescued Walmart associates began running.
Breddy turned to follow them.
Then...
I grabbed his shoulder.
He looked back.
I nodded toward the fuel trucks.
Then toward the gas lines.
His expression changed.
"No."
I smiled.
"You figured it out."
"No."
"We'll find another way."
"There isn't one."
---
Another explosion rocked the warehouse.
The ceiling began collapsing.
Titan kept coming.
The zombies kept coming.
There was no time.
I looked at Raven.
"Take care of him."
She looked at me silently.
Then nodded.
"I will."
---
I looked back at Breddy.
"You gave those people hope."
"You gave them someone worth following."
"Now..."
"Go lead them."
Breddy shook his head.
"I'm not leaving you."
I laughed.
"You're really stubborn."
"I learned from Walmart."
That made me grin.
"Good answer."
---
Without another word...
I slammed the emergency blast-door controls.
WARNING!
EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN ACTIVATED
The steel doors dropped between me...
...and everyone else.
BOOOOOOM!
Breddy threw himself against them.
"MASON!"
He pounded on the steel with both fists.
"No!"
I walked up to the small reinforced window.
Blood covered my clothes.
My face.
My hands.
But I smiled anyway.
"You remember what you told me?"
Breddy's breathing was heavy.
"...What?"
"No one gets left behind."
I nodded.
"You were right."
"But sometimes..."
"...someone has to stay behind."
---
Raven gently grabbed Breddy's arm.
Tears filled her eyes.
"We have to go."
He didn't move.
He couldn't.
---
I picked up my machine gun.
The zombies were only seconds away.
I looked at my Walmart name badge still clipped inside my vest.
I laughed.
"Guess..."
"...my shift's finally over."
The first zombie reached me.
I opened fire.
RATATATATAT!
Rows of zombies fell.
Hunter Units charged.
I switched to my shotgun.
BOOM!
One dropped.
BOOM!
Another.
When the shotgun ran empty...
I drew both pistols.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Bodies piled around me.
Still...
They kept coming.
I grabbed a fire axe.
The warehouse echoed with steel striking bone.
I fought.
And fought.
And fought.
---
Outside the blast door...
Breddy stood frozen.
Unable to look away.
The gunfire continued.
Then...
Slower.
Then slower still.
Finally...
Silence.
A heartbeat later...
The warehouse erupted.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The fuel trucks exploded.
Fire raced across the gas lines.
The entire loading dock disappeared beneath a wall of flames.
The shockwave knocked everyone to the ground.
Breddy stared at the fire.
His eyes filled with tears.
No words came.
Only silence.
The survivors escaped through the extraction tunnel...
Because one Walmart associate...
Refused to let anyone else die.